New WIAA regional draw process

Change is coming to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association state tournament.

It’s just not the change on everybody’s minds.

The WIAA announced a new process for assigning teams to certain locations in the first round (i.e. “regional round”) of the basketball state tournament. The big change is that teams will no longer be able to play on their home court in the regional round, and will instead have to go to another approved site in the district.

Approved regional sites for District 1 are Jackson, Glacier Peak, Mount Vernon and Mountlake Terrace high schools, along with Everett Community College.

Travel for No. 1 seeds will still try to be minimized, sending them to a nearby location. The rule will also seek to schedule back-to-back games at the same facility for a boys and girls team if both qualify.

In previous years, regional sites were scheduled before postseason play, and often hosted teams on their own court.

The new rule means some sites may not host any regional games, while others can host as many as six games on March 1.

The regional round of the state tournament determines the top eight teams that will advance to the Hardwood Classic at the Tacoma Dome from March 6-8.

The full press release is below:

WIAA Announces Regional Basketball Draws and Site Selection Process

RENTON — The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) has confirmed the process for assigning games to the approved regional sites for the first round of the 2014 boys and girls basketball tournaments.

The WIAA staff has worked with the boys and girls basketball coaches associations to create a process to assign games to the regional sites to address concerns from past regional tournaments.

Regional basketball games will be assigned to approved regional sites on Sunday, February 23. WIAA Executive Director Mike Colbrese and WIAA staff members Cindy Adsit, Andy Barnes, John Miller and Brian Smith will assign the games based on the process approved by the WIAA Executive Board. WOA Executive Director Todd Stordahl and recently retired basketball coach, Jason Kerr, will also assist in the process.

The top priority in assigning regional games will be to ensure that a team will not play a game on its home court. Travel for true number one seeds will be minimized and back-to-back games will be scheduled at the same facility for schools that qualify a boys and girls team when possible.

Depending on the teams that qualify, some pre-approved sites may not be selected to host any regional games, while some sites may host as many as six games on Saturday, March 1. Prior to 2014, draws were determined before postseason play with each approved regional site hosting two games on Friday and two games on Saturday.

The regional rounds will determine the top eight teams in each classification that will advance to the Hardwood Classic,March 6-8. Regional allocations, and draws along with the draw criteria for the final eight, is spelled out on each classification link below. For more information, please visit the WIAA website.

For procedures, timelines and a list of potential regional sites CLICK HERE.

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